Gingrich proposed that new strategies and tactics in the war
on terror should be considered, including a reexamination of
First Amendment rights.
Bush does fascism; Gingrich also preaches it.
How could he get in? Simple...personally embarrassing 'revelations' against
whoever the Democratic candidate happens to be. "It can be easily done....just
do it out on Highway 61."
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
Original source URL:
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/3983
Gingrich at the Gate
Bill Berkowitz | February 8, 2007
IRC Right Web
rightweb.irc-online.org
Although Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House of
Representatives who was forced to relinquish his post over a series of ethical
missteps, is still considering his options regarding a run for the 2008
presidency, there's little doubt that he wants to be president. Gingrich, who
has never been camera shy and appears regularly on the Fox News Channel, does
not hesitate to let audiences know where he stands on the critical issues of our
time. (His upcoming schedule includes speaking engagements at the American
College of Dermatology convention, the World Money Show in Orlando, Florida, an
Ameritrade conference in Los Angeles, and the Texas Bankers Association.)
Late last year, at an annual dinner in New Hampshire held in memory of the late
publisher of the conservative Manchester Union Leader and honoring individuals
who stand up for free speech, Gingrich proposed that new strategies and tactics
in the war on terror should be considered, including a reexamination of First
Amendment rights. Gingrich said: "This is a serious, long-term war, and it will
inevitably lead us to want to know what is said in every suspect place in the
country, that will lead us to learn how to close down every website that is
dangerous, and it will lead us to a very severe approach to people who advocate
the killing of Americans and advocate the use of nuclear or biological weapons"
(November 27, 2006).
In recent days, Gingrich has called on Congress to enact legislation to make
English the official U.S. language; spelled out his ideas about transforming
America's healthcare system using information technology; and prepared a new
"Contract With America for the 21st Century," which "proposes private savings
accounts for Social Security, 'patriotic education' in public schools, and the
appointment of judges who understand the 'centrality of God in American
history,'" as the Washington Post recently reported.
To raise the money necessary to push his plans‹and possibly his presidential
ambitions‹ Gingrich recently formed a new "527" organization called American
Solutions for Winning the Future. (Such 527 groups are often called "soft-money"
PACs because they are not subject to the Federal Election Commission's PAC
regulations.)
The former Speaker has also been poking around religious frames, dabbling in the
Armageddon business. During a July 2006 fundraising trip to Washington State,
Gingrich used the term "World War III" in describing the war on terror, the
Seattle Times reported. He maintained that using the phrase might reenergize the
GOP's base, suggesting that public opinion could change "the minute you use the
language" of World War III. The message, he said, was, "Okay, if we're in the
third world war, which side do you think should win?"
In late January 2007, Gingrich was off on a similar track, warning that nuclear
weapons constitute the threat of a second Holocaust. At the annual Herzliya
Conference held by the Institute for Policy and Strategy, Gingrich, speaking via
satellite from the United States, maintained that " Israel is facing the
greatest danger for its survival since the 1967 victory ... If two or three
cities are destroyed because of terrorism both the United States' and Israel's
democracy will be eroded and both will become greater dictatorial societies ...
Three nuclear weapons constitute a second Holocaust. Enemies are explicit in
their desire to destroy us. We are sleepwalking through this as if diplomatic
engagement will create a fiesta where we will all love one another " (January
24, 2007). Other conference speakers, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense
Minister Shaul Mofaz, GOP presidential hopeful Republican Mitt Romney, and
neoconservative stalwart Richard Perle, were also in agreement that the number
one problem in the Middle East is Iran.
Since leaving Congress, Gingrich has enjoyed a host of posts at neoconservative
and hardline think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and
the Hoover Institution. In November 2001 he was appointed to the Pentagon's
Defense Policy Board (DPB), an advisory board for the Department of Defense,
where he served with such top-shelf neoconservatives as Perle, James Woolsey,
Ken Adelman, and Eliot Cohen.
Although occasionally critical of the way the Iraq War has been conducted, in
late December, the Sunday Times (London) reported that Gingrich and fellow DPB
members called "for a cross between the New Deal and the post-Second World War
Marshall Plan that would 'mop up every young Iraqi male who is unemployed.'"
Gingrich said it would be "as big a strategic step toward victory as whether you
have more troops or fewer troops" (Sunday Times, December 24, 2006).
On January 12, 2007, Gingrich penned with (fellow presidential hopeful) former
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that
supported the new neoconservative position on Iraq that "victory" there must be
had: " The American mission in Iraq must succeed." However, unlike the recent
plans from Bush (and an even more militaristic proposal from AEI scholars) to
"surge" troop levels, Gingrich and Giuliani focused on the need to rebuild
Iraq's civil infrastructure: "Our goal‹promoting a stable, accountable democracy
in the heart of the Middle East‹cannot be achieved by purely military means."
On the Election 2008 front, many GOPers are disappointed with the current crop
of declared candidates for the presidential nomination. "They all suck," Erick
Erickson, CEO of the Republican blog RedState.com recently wrote. "From the
lecherous adulterer [Rudy Giuliani] to the egomaniacal nut job [Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ)] to the flip-flopping opportunist with the perfect hair [former
Massachusetts Governor Romney] to the guy who hates brown people [Rep. Tom
Tancredo (R-CO)] to the guy we've never heard of [Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)] to
the guy who has a better chance of getting hit by a meteor while being consumed
by a blue whale being struck by lightning [Rep. Sam Brownback (R-KS)]."
Gingrich's 527 group American Solutions for Winning the Future "received its
first significant early contribution of $1 million from" Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Chairman Sheldon G. Adelson shortly after the November elections, according to
Gingrich's longtime friend and colleague Matt Towery. The Washington Post
reported that, "Adelson was listed by Forbesmagazine in 2006 as America's
third-richest man, with assets of more than $20 billion. His long list of
political donations, primarily to Republicans, includes $100,000 to the
Republican National Committee in 1997 and 1998, when Gingrich was speaker"
(Washington Post, January 23, 2007).
Back in the day, this huge contribution from a gambling honcho might have
tickled the former Republican Party über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. However, it is
a donation that is not likely to sit well with the so-called traditional values
crowd.
"The problem is the income comes from what we call a vice, and that is an
issue," the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the GOP's Traditional Values
Coalition, told the Washington Post.
Towery, a former national Republican legislator of the year and the author of
Powerchicks: How Women Will Dominate America, views G ingrich "as a likely,
viable candidate for president in 2008." He was flabbergasted, however, that
Gingrich would seek out funds from gambling interests, and is sternly advising
him to give the money back immediately. "Newt's ability to raise funds is
legendary," Towery pointed out in a January 25 column. "His concept of
researching new ideas for America and sharing them with any and all
takers‹including presidential contenders‹is laudable. But these strong points of
Gingrich's will be a secondary consideration by potential supporters of his
potential candidacy if he continues to operate with a Vegas high-roller image,"
Towery added (TownHall.com, January 25, 2007).
By accepting the gambling money, Gingrich's 527 looks "like a front for gaming
interests," Towery said. "Or worse, a loud echo to the Abramoff scandal."
Some on the right, like RedState's Erick Erickson, also seem to have an innate
discomfort with the idea of imagining Gingrich as president. While arguing that
he would like to see Gingrich in the contest‹so that he could move the debate
further to the right‹Erickson opined: "I don't know that I'd trust him with that
much power."
Bill Berkowitz is a freelance writer covering right-wing groups and movements
and a contributor to Right Web (rightweb.irc-online.org).
PO Box 2178, Silver City, NM 88062-2178 | •••@••.••• | 505.388.0208 |
www.irc-online.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/
cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org
Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html
subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.•••
Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/
